Bow Warm-Up Exercises

When students first start to play a stringed instrument, they don’t usually have the hand strength or fine motor skills to hold the bow correctly and without tension. The muscles in the hand need to be trained and strengthened. So, as Arnold Swartzenegger said in the movie Kindergarten Cop, “It’s time now to turn this mush into muscle!”

To a beginner, the bow is quite awkward and unwieldily. Using bow exercises not only develop hand strength, they also help get students accustomed to holding the bow and getting used to its weight and balance.

When forming a correct bow hold, review the checkpoints:

All fingers are curved and naturally spaced.

Fingers are relaxed and around the stick or over the frog.

On violin & viola the pinky is on top of the stick; on cello & bass, the pinky lays over stick

Thumb has a “bump.” (It is okay if it lightly touches the bow hair)

Thumb opposes middle finger.

Hand should a slight tilt (pronate) toward the tip of the bow. This is more prominent on violin and viola, and less so for cello and bass.

Note: I usually start players holding their bows at the balance point (beginner bow hold), then work my way back to the frog (“professional” bow hold) over the course of a few weeks. The progress of returning to the frog depends on what I see from my students. To discourage students from wanting to play away from the frog, I rename the beginning bow hold the “baby bow hold.” We are always working hard to enable us to use the “professional bow hold.”

Making Exercises Fun!

For years I have been using fun songs to make doing bow warm-ups fun and effective. The students have so much fun with them, that they want to continue working on them, long after we are playing arco comfortably. I have found all of the music on YouTube and made a playlist, but they are also listed below.

c. Stirring the Clouds – hold the bow, with the tip of the bow up. Draw circles with the tip of the bow in the air, using only the wrist. Also try using only the fingers. Make circles in both directions, all while keeping fingers loose and properly shaped on bow.

3. MUSIC: SINGING IN THE RAIN

a. Windshield Wipers – With right elbow against the body, allow forearm to rotate, creating windshield wipers. Promotes flexibility in the forearm and develops a basic understanding of pronation and supination of the bow.

b. Look Both Ways – With arm extended, use only the wrist and move side to side. Pretend that your hand is a puppet head and it’s looking both ways before crossing the street. Promotes wrist flexibility, side to side.

4. MUSIC: SPIDERMAN THEME SONG (from 1960’s)

a. Spider Crawl – This exercise helps develop finger dexterity and strength. Using a good bow hold, have students crawl up and down the bow stick, using their fingers to inch their way to the top. Be sure they don’t change their bow hand shape! No cheating by holding the bow or letting the bow slide through the fingers!

5. MUSIC: LOCO-MOTION (80’s pop version)

a. Train Tracks – Perfect for cello & bass, students should imagine that their bow is a train on a track and the track runs right in front of them, horizontally. Promotes perpendicular bowing motion for cello bass.

6. MUSIC: ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (Strauss)

a. Rocket ships – Students should imagine that their bow is a rocket, and must blast off into space, straight up, then have it land down. Hold bow vertically, centered in front of your body, as low as the wrist will allow, then move bow up, keeping it perfectly aligned in front of the body. Promotes straight bow motions up and down in front of body and encourages the flexibility of the wrist.

7. MUSIC: SOUL BOSSA NOVA (Austin Powers Theme Song)

a. Short Fingers/Tall Fingers – Start with all fingers in the “frog” bow hold (all fingers curved and thumb bent, resting near the tip on the side), then have students slowly straighten their fingers and thumb. At no point should the fingers become locked or completely straight. Repeat this with and without the bow in hand. Promotes finger flexibility.

My teather leaved me this website and i like it! sometimes im angry cuz my parents just dont let me play and they say i need to practise. then ill come to this website listen music and im not angry anymore and my skills are also better cuz im sooo relaxed!
that is awesome web site!

I use these all the time with my beginning 6th graders and they love it! I came up with some other ones. One is playing the song “Stayin’ Alive” while students bow up and down in the air diagonally, imitating the classic disco dance motion. This lets them focus on flexing their wrists to keep the bow path straight. The other is “Thriller”, and students bow side to side (violins and violas can play on their plane as well) on a straight path, going left, right, left, left, then right, left, right, right (like in the Thriller dance). Helps in keeping the bow straight, flexing that wrist, and even developing some hooked bow technique!

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About the Author

Dr. Charles Laux is the Director of Orchestras at Alpharetta High School (near Atlanta, Georgia) where his duties include directing four levels of orchestra, including the nationally recognized AHS Symphony Orchestra, and teaching class guitar. He also serves as Essential Elements clinician, consultant, and contributor for the Hal Leonard Corporation. Dr. Laux holds degrees in music education from Ohio University, the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

A string educator for over 20 years, Dr. Laux has worked with diverse student populations from elementary school through collegiate level. He served as Assistant Professor of String Music Education at Kennesaw State University from 2012-2016 where he taught string techniques and pedagogy, music education technology integration, supervised student teachers, conducted the KSU Philharmonic and coordinated string outreach activities, including serving as founding director of the KSU String Project. Under his leadership, Kennesaw State University became the largest string education program in Georgia and the KSU String Project grew to serve nearly 110 elementary school students. Previously Dr. Laux directed award-winning school orchestra programs in Nevada, Florida, and Ohio. Under his direction, the Winter Park High School Philharmonic Orchestra was selected to perform at the 60th annual Midwest Clinic.

Endorsed as an artist educator by D’Addario Orchestral and Eastman Stringed Instruments, Dr. Laux has presented over 100 educational sessions for organizations such as the Midwest Clinic, American String Teachers Association, Technology Institute for Music Education, Association for Technology in Music Instruction, and at music conferences spanning 21 states. He regularly presents professional development in-services for school districts across the country and has presented internationally at Colegio Menor San Francisco near Quito, Ecuador. His performing experience includes seasons with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Nevada Chamber Symphony, the Columbus String Quartet, and a collaborative solo-performance with several members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.